MIT blended pilot initiative and first open online MBA

MIT has recently announced a “blended” pilot initiative, which will allow learners worldwide to take a semester’s worth of courses in its Supply Chain Management (SCM) master’s programme completely online.

This groundbreaking decision to recognize MOOCs as an alternative for delivering college credit courses will probably be followed by other first-class educational institutions.

MIT’s pilot will also introduce “inverted admissions”, a new way of structuring admissions to a professional master’s programme. Learners worldwide with access to edX will be able to take any of the first semester’s worth of courses online. Those who do well in each course may be entitled to earn an MITx MicroMaster’s, and their performance will significantly enhance their chances of being accepted to the full SCM master’s programme, which they can then complete in a single semester with classes on campus.Meanwhile, the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign College of Business will start next spring the first open online MBA, which will be offered in part through Coursera.

The iMBA curriculum will be freely available for everyone, and will be the first graduate programme constructed as a set of stand-alone building blocks that can be combined to comprise a full online MBA degree. This programme aims to open doors to learners with non-traditional backgrounds, as student will be allowed to try out courses with no commitment and apply for the MBA later if they feel confident in their success.